To be conservative, your monthly rent payment should not exceed 30 percent of your take home pay. The rule of thumb is actually based on your gross income but by being conservative you have more wiggle room to account for renter's insurance, regular maintenance, utilities, etc. It's not just about the rent.

Congrats on starting off in the trades. I was an apprentice once.

Call the number on the back of the card. You know your name, DOB, SSN, address. And since you have the card, you also know the account number (it's the card number).

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Your take-home pay after taxes will be something like $3,400 per month, and if you were to spend $1,500 on rent and an additional $350 on utilities (electric, gas, water/sewer, home Wi-Fi), you’d have only $1,550 remaining for all other spending and saving.

Also— $600/ month for all living expenses other than housing seems very unrealistic to me. Can you break that number down? I’d expect a single adult to spend something like $250-350 per month on groceries and other consumables (toilet paper, laundry detergent, razors), at least $100 per month on auto insurance, another $150 or so on gas, $50 on auto maintenance and repair, $50 for cell service, $200+ on hobbies and entertainment, and so on.

I have been disputing it for a while now. My question is whether my credit score be affected.

There are factors on why I would rather not pay this office in particular that I won't get into.

I've bought used from CarMax for the last several we've cycled through. Had a good experience every time. Yeah, their price isn't always the lowest, but they've been well maintained, clean vehicles with no issues.

> So, different people purchase same t-bills at a different price?

Yes.

> If yes, any good strategy to have a slight favor?

Be patient and set your limit, and always be prepared to not get anything at all.

Put it this way, the more you spend on housing the more comfortable you will be and the bigger place you will have... but.... if your goal of getting a house 4-5 years is till a thing for you I would suggest renting a little studio apartment for cheap and save as much money as you can... houses are not cheap.

as a rule of thumb, don't rent at the maximum edge of what you think you can afford. people overestimate this when moving out (myself included) but usually the real max is 80% of the number in your head.

that said, renting the house is going to let you "skip" the experience of living in apartments, which is worth it. sounds like you're doing well too so good luck on ya

Both my gas and electric bills are significantly higher YOY for the past few months. However, my actual usage has been about the same YOY (as shown by the little graphy things on my bills). The unit cost has simply gone up. I already keep my house pretty cold and only have the light on in the room that I am in (I'm WFH). I mean I could unplug appliances that I'm not actively using like the TV (but realistically I'm not gonna). And I bet if I replaced my refrigerator, my usage would go down because that thing is ancient, but there are still some supply chain issues with appliances, so I'll get to it when I get to it (I do have the money saved up to replace all my appliances but as I said, supply chain issues).

I highly agree, my first industry job at a biotech in CA Bay Area as a bench scientist, with a bachelor’s degree, pays out $100k per year as base salary (it’s actually lower than the average salary of similar position at the same company ~110-125k) which comes out to $60k a year after taxes. I was less than half as much in academia smh

I am a newbie of t-bill + brokerage. So, different people purchase same t-bills at a different price?

​

If yes, any good strategy to have a slight favor?

So there is a plateau when it comes to salary and happiness and that plateau is around $75,000 -$100,000 depending on where you are living. Even in an expensive market like New York where you used to live making more than $100, 000 generally speaking will not increase happiness. It sounds like your job comes with alot of flexibility and benefits. So if you are looking for more money to receive more satisfaction I would caustion you are unlikely to find it. However, if you are looking for more work satisfaction or a new challenge, you may find it, however, you may not find the same flexibility and ability to spend time with your young family.

Get The Informed Buyer on Amazon for $3. It's written by a guy who spent decades in car sales. I've used the techniques in the book to save thousands of the purchase of 4 new and used cars.

He also has a podcast called Deal Talk where he covers the steps as well as other tips and tricks.

just find the car you like online and buy it for that + faxes and state fees, decline all other options, its incredibly easy in modern times.

Sounds like you’ve got a really good deal. You might have a look to see what’s out there, but don’t rush. The childcare costs are only for another couple of years.

I am the wife, we both had in person jobs in NYC, but in 2018 my husband’s company asked if anyone wanted to go remote. He had been there for 11 years and everything he does is computer based. He volunteered (we were looking to get out of the city, our daughter was 9mo old then). When I told my small company I was leaving because we were moving several states away the owner asked if I wanted to work remotely. That was almost 5 years ago.

My husband works in e-learning/training for a large hospital group, I wear many hats for a small lighting manufacturing company. We both have niche careers.

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Thanks for the reply!

My pay will be raised every 6 months by contract. My current monthly budget for food, phone bills, gas, insurance, clothing, and misc items is around $600 per month. Add $500 for Roth contributions.

I can find a home for $1,350 but I also don’t see why spending another $100 month, especially when my pay is set to increase regularly is a problem. Just thinking out loud here.

Most dealers hate this but honestly, go figure out which vehicles you like / might want, and ask for quotes via internet / email. You’ll get a ton of spam but it’s time efficient for you. The dealers hate it because they know getting you INTO the dealership is the most effective way of closing the sale, but each dealership has a salesperson or two that is more goes for quantity and will deal over email.

Make them negotiate against each other this way. You’ll get the best offer within a few days and you’re good to go.

One thing I always do when buying a car: once you've found the one and decided you're going to buy it, tell the salesman, “if you fill it up with gas, I'll get it.“ Saved yourself $50 and they have never turned that down.

I narrow down which cars I am interested and go test drive them all. Once you know what you want, do the build and quote in their website so that you know which options you must have and what packages they come in.

Example, I only buy manual transmissions. This makes some cars unavailable and others way more expensive because you have to buy a "sport" package.

Now you know msrp of the exact car that you want. Some dealerships will let you order it for msrp if you can wait. This is a great way to go because you get everything exactly how you want it.

Another option is to try going through Costco or consumer reports. They will give you a quote that is usually a good price, then connect you to a dealer who will honor it. I am not sure how this is working lately with the insane car market.

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You do not appear to be disputing charges. So since you indeed owe the bill and you say you can send $10 a month, why not do the right thing and pay it?